Federal government can withhold secret evidence in terror trial: top court

OTTAWA – The country’s top court has upheld the federal government’s
right to withhold evidence for national security reasons regarding the Toronto
18 terrorism plot, which was broken up in June 2006.

In a unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada said Thursday that the
provisions adopted by the government were constitutional, but it also concluded
that suspects could be released whenever the evidence against them is too
sensitive to be presented in a trial.

“Sometimes the only way to avoid an ‘(unfair) trial is to have no trial at
all,” members of the Supreme Court of Canada wrote in their ruling.